Sudoku, Anyone?

Yes, I know...it's quite impressive. Only 10 months old and already working on Sudoku. We're so proud!

Tagged Again

Okay, Heidi tagged me with another questionnaire so here goes...

Four Jobs I Have Had:
1. Pharmacy Technician. I worked for a company that filled meds for nursing homes and I absolutely loved it! Despite some of the strange people that worked there, I had a really fun time working around all those drugs.
2. Senior Assistant Manager at Ann Taylor. Retail is NOT my favorite but this job was okay.
3. Ultrasound Technician. The best job ever!!!! I never got tired of looking at those little babies and sharing such a wonderful experience with the parents.
4. Director of Operations for Fetal Fotos. This job is best summed up with a line from a well-known classic: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."


Four Places I Have Been:
1. Portland, Oregon. This is where David and I went on our honeymoon and even though it was not the most exotic, exciting place, it was our honeymoon and I was with David. It was wonderful!
2. Cancun, Mexico. Also with David and despite the rain we got for most of the week, it was fabulous!
3. Nauvoo, Illinois. We took a trip with David's parents to visit all the church historical sites in Illinois and Missouri. We visited Independence, Carthage Jail, Liberty Jail, Nauvoo (pre-temple), Farr West, Adam-ondi-Ahman, etc. It was such a fun trip and I can't wait to go back.
4. St. John. The ultimate of vacations. I had been with my family in 1995 and then two years ago David, the kids and I met up with my parents, Heidi and her family, and Kelly for a week down there. It was so awesome! The kids were wonderful and we all had such a great time that we have decided that every two years we're meeting down there. We can't wait for June!

Four Favorite Foods:
1. Italian
2. Chinese
3. Mexican
4. All other foods. Seriously, I love all foods...it's too hard to narrow it down to favorites. It all depends on what I'm in the mood for.

Four People I Would Like to Know Better:
1. I would like to know members of David's family better, like his sister Liz and Cherish, Dan's wife.
2. My neighbor Liz.
3. My neighbor Jackie.
4. Kara, a woman at my church.

Four Reasons I Like Being Me:
1. For the most part I am a pretty happy person.
2. I am not afraid of what other people think of me (sometimes this can cause problems but oh, well...if someone doesn't like me there's nothing I can do about that.)
3. I am easy to please.
4. I try to have an open mind and learn about many different things.

Four Classes I Would Like to Take:
1. Photography Class. Everyone seems to mention this but I really do want to know how to take better pictures.
2. A cooking class. I would really like to learn how to be one of those Tepanyaki chefs, where they cook the food right in front of you and throw all the eggs and things around.
3. A French class. I would love to be able to talk to David in French because I sure love hearing him talk to me in his oh-so-sexy French.
4. When the kids are all in school I plan on returning to school myself to get my Masters...so a bunch of history classes will be a dream come true. I am a total nerd and can not wait to get back to the classroom.

So, there it is. I now tag Kelly (come on, girl, get on it!), my sister Tricia (yes, it is time to update your blog!), Jenn, and Cherish and whoever else wants to do it.

The X Man

A few days after Halloween last year I hit the local Target to do some shopping. Taking advantage of their 75% off sale, I loaded up on costumes for both Savannah and Xander. The check-out girl said, "Boy, you're all set for Halloween for the next 10 years." What she doesn't understand is that my kids LOVE to dress up! I got so many great costumes for such low prices and it made the perfect Christmas gift. I knew that Savannah and her friends would spend hours dressing up and playing pretend but I really had no idea how much Xander would enjoy all his costumes. It's a rare day that he's not running around the house dressed as Spiderman, a ninja, or Captain Jack. He's even worn his costumes out shopping and to a birthday party. It doesn't bother me; he's a pretty cute kid!

Our little Noah

It's hard to believe that our little Noah is already 10 months old! He crawls everywhere and gets into everything! He's also pulling himself up so anything left on our end tables or coffee table is fair game for him. Another favorite activity of Noah's is to get into my dish towel drawer and pull every single towel out. (He does the same thing with Savannah's underwear drawer!) When I get mad and say, "Noah!", he just laughs and starts blowing kisses to me. He has finally starting sleeping through the night again so I'm definitely a lot happier these days. Noah is just a very sweet baby, smiling and waving at everyone.


Savannah loves to take baths with Noah and style his hair.

What a cheesy grin!

Yes, I'm Addicted!

I have a confession to make...I'm addicted to American Idol! I don't usually watch a lot of TV and I'm being really serious when I say that. My two shows are "Lost" and "Monk" and of course I watch all of the Jazz basketball games thanks to NBA League Pass. But a couple of weeks ago I tuned into American Idol for my very first time of watching it. I know all about past winners because in this day and age you can't escape hearing about these things but I have never actually watched it. Well, after watching the first night I was hooked. David can't believe it because it is so unlike me to like a show like this. All I can say, though, is American Idol is a really great show (Reality Bites, anyone?)



These are my favorite contestants and I'm thinking one of them could win...the Australian guy is really amazing! Last week when I found out that I can actually call in to cast my vote, I was so excited but David, who had joined me for the last few minutes of it, said there was no way we were wasting money on that! (He always likes to rain on my parade.) So, I'm looking forward to tonight especially since I have no idea how this whole thing works. I just hope the guys I like don't get voted off.

Purse Blog

Okay, so my sister Heidi tagged me quite some time ago and I just have never gotten around to doing a blog about my purse. Well, I'm finally doing it though I really should have blogged right after I was tagged because I had just cleaned out both my bags...oh, well. I have two purses - my regular purse that I use when I'm flying solo and my diaper bag that I use whenever I head out with the kids. I'll start with the diaper bag:

Inside there was 1 diaper, wipes, kleenex, a binkie, a Star Wars toy, 2 crayons, a toy spoon, a straw (Noah likes to suck on straws), 5 suckers, 6 bags of fruit snacks, a penny, Savannah's ring, a bottle, formula holder, a bib, burp cloth, my wallet, blistex, 2 pens, a rubber band, my cell phone, 5 packs of gum (my kids like choices), a monkey finger puppet, and my grocery list and receipt.

My regular purse contained my checkbook, 4 pens, lip gloss, American Express bill, a binkie, 12 packs of fruit snacks, a package of whoppers, kleenex, blackberry vanilla lotion, blistex, 2 grocery lists, 2 reciepts, a snail adhesive and scrapbooking scissors, a prescription, formula coupons, sunglasses, and gum. Nothing too exciting but there you go.

Valentine's Day

We had a great time at Xander's Valentine's Day party. The kids made several different crafts - a ladybug mailbox for Valentine cards, a frame, and a card - plus they decorated cookies and had some food. I'm always so impressed by the great job the party moms do; next month I'm in charge of the Spring party so now the pressure is on!




Xander distributing his Valentine cards to his classmates' bags.

Doesn't Xander look absolutely thrilled to be there?

In the afternoon Xander helped me make Valentine cupcakes. He always wants to help in the kitchen and he's gotten really good at mixing and pouring. Hopefully I'll soon have him making dinner...wouldn't that be nice?



After dinner we all opened our Valentine cards. It was a nice, quiet evening spent together. (Note...we have been working on Xander keeping his eyes open for pictures. He's doing a better job though now we have to work on toning down the "psycho" eyes that are a result of his efforts.

Fat Lip and Loose Tooth

The big news in our house is Savannah has her first loose tooth. It's one of her front bottom ones and although she will probably have it for another few weeks, she is very excited. She has been wishing for quite some time to lose a tooth, especially since it seems like most of her friends have already lost several of theirs.

Monday I was feeling much better but around dinner I felt my upper lip start to go numb. I checked in the mirror to see what was going on but my upper lip just looked a little swollen. Whenever I get any kind of infection in my body, be it respiratory or sinus or whatever, I get hives...so I just figured I was having some kind of allergic reaction to the illnesses I had suffered over the past few days. By the end of the night, though, I looked like Donald Duck! My upper lip was so swollen that I was amazed it didn't crack in half. Savannah tried to make me feel better by saying that I was still beautiful but it was quite the atrocious sight! I took 6 Benadryl before the night was gone and I still had that thing all day Tuesday. Thank goodness the kids didn't have school on Tuesday due to the primaries because there was no way I was going out of the house sporting that monstrous lip.

What a Week!

What a rough week we had last week! Sunday morning Savannah woke up with a high fever that we battled for several days and when we finally took her in to see the doctor, we discovered she was suffering from an ear infection. She was home Monday through Thursday but is definitely feeling better now. Wednesday I started feeling pretty yucky myself, just in time for David's trip out of town. By Wednesday night I had a pretty high fever and battled through a night of aches and pains. The cold and cough came next, followed by a lovely stomach virus that hit my system Saturday evening. Needless to say, it has been tough, especially when David was gone. I know I had lots of prayers being said for me that helped me get through it all. I am so blessed to have such a great family that loves and supports me...now, if only we lived a little closer! February has been a rough month so far but I'm hoping that things will only get better from here on out.

When I went to get the boys this morning I encountered this cute scene of Xander reading to Noah in his crib

Super Bowl Sunday

None of the Pierce clan made it to church on Sunday due to Savannah's high fever and David's exhaustion from a night of hell with Noah (yes, Noah continues his Xander-like tactics in attempting to drive his parents insane). It was a long day of trying to keep Savannah's fever down and catching up on some sleep. We finished up the day by watching the Super Bowl. David was very interested in the game because he did NOT want the Pats to win. Although we're not huge Giants fans, they got our support for this game. (I'm a HUGE Peyton Manning fan so I figured I could root for his brother.) The kids watched most of the first half with us and then headed off to bed. David and I stayed up to watch the exciting finish and were especially happy that the Giants were able to pull out the win.


We got Savannah and Xander to boo the Patriots!

President Hinckley

Saturday David and I watched President Hinckley's funeral and I must admit that it was really hard for me. I didn't think that I would get as emotional as I did but the tears would just not stop. Although I have now lived through 4 presidents of the church and can remember when each of them has passed away, President Hinckley's death has really hit me hard. Elder Tingey mentioned in his talk yesterday at the funeral that each member throughout the world probably has some special memory of this prophet. I have heard and read some pretty wonderful memories others have of our prophet and I do have one of my own as well. I never got to meet the prophet but I did have the privelege of attending a YW Broadcast at the Conference Center that President Hinckley attended. We were lucky enough to sit just a few rows back from the pulpit so I was able to see him close up. I was amazed then at how strongly I could feel the spirit testifying to me that this man truly was a propeht of God. I know that there are others who have had much more amazing experiences with him, such as shaking his hand or spending time with him, but that is my own special memory, one I will always treasure. The witness I received that day strengthened my testimony and I will never forget how I felt. I loved President Hinckley so much and was always amazed at the strength and stamina he displayed in carrying out the Lord's work. I am so grateful for all he did and will miss him tremendously.

I stole this picture from a friend's blog...I just love it!

"What is This Thing that Men Call Death"
Text by Gordon B. Hinckley

What is this thing that men call death,
This quiet passing in the night?
'Tis not the end but genesis
Of better worlds and greater light.

O God, touch Thou my aching heart
And calm my troubled, haunting fears.
Let hope and faith, transcendent, pure,
Give strength and peace beyond my tears.

There is no death, but only change,
With recompense for vict'ry won.
The gift of Him who loved all men,
The Son of God, the Holy One.

New Template

I must admit that I'm very excited about the new background to our blog. "The Notebook" is one of my favorite movies of all time and I thought it would be perfect to use it in honor of Valentine's Day. A little known fact is that David and I got our son's name Noah from the character in this movie, Noah Calhoun.

Night (and Day) of the Living Dead

Okay, so you know how there are those creepy horror flicks where zombies walk around, terrorizing everyone? Well, I'm not stalking anyone (yet!) but I'm looking and acting like a zombie these days. For a full 9 days Noah had a stomach virus that had me up several times a night cleaning him up and washing sheets and blankets. Thank goodness he finally got over that but now my sweet, precious little Noah, who started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks, has decided that he likes getting up in the middle of the night for a feeding. At first I thought he might just have that huge appetite that follows the stomach flu...but it's been almost a week now and he's not stopping. David was gone all this week (what's new?) so I was doing all of this fun nighttime stuff myself. Frankly, I'm exhausted! I really feel like one of those mindless zombies as I struggle to get through each day.
Today Savannah's school was cancelled due to "freezing rain". Isn't all rain in the winter freezing? I can understand a cancellation if we were in the middle of an ice storm or getting some massive snow but freezing rain? Come on! No wonder our kids are falling behind in education; they never go to school! Xander was really excited to have Savannah home for the day, though; I guess I'm just not that fun to play with.
It has definitely been a rough week. I was so saddened by President Hinckley's death though I know that he must be so happy right now being reunited with his wife. I loved that man and know that he truly was a prophet of God. And on top of his loss we have to suffer through all of the political debates going on right now. I don't know about the rest of you but I think some scary times might be ahead for us. (It's easy to see where that aforementioned lack of education is hurting us as we look at the front runners, especially in the democratic party. Socialism? Hmmmm, what's that? Vote for Hillary and this country will probably find out.) Thank goodness I have the gospel that I can turn to to find peace during these times.